What to automate first
Name up to five processes that eat your week. Answer six quick questions about each, and see which to automate now, which to fix first, which are quick wins, and which to leave.
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How to read the result
Two questions decide where each process lands: is it worth a lot, and is it ready?
- Automate now: it takes real time, causes mistakes or makes customers wait, and the steps and information are ready. Start here.
- Fix the process first: it’s worth a lot, but the steps change every time or the information is scattered. Automating it now only makes the mess faster. The first step says exactly what to fix.
- Quick win: ready, with a smaller payoff. Worth an afternoon when you have one.
- Leave it for now: small, and not ready.
- The hours are what each process takes today, from your answers. The tool doesn’t promise a saving, because that depends on how it’s built.
How it’s calculated
- Hours a week = times a week × minutes each time ÷ 60. Daily counts as five working days; monthly as 12 times a year.
- Worth (0 to 100) = the hours, up to 50 points at five hours a week or more; mistakes: often 25, sometimes 12, rarely 0; a customer waits on it: 25.
- Ready (0 to 100) = same steps: always 60, mostly 35, it varies 0; information: in one system 40, spread across a few 20, on paper, in email or in someone’s head 0.
- Worth 50 or more and ready 60 or more is Automate now. Worth 50 or more but less ready is Fix the process first. Less worth but ready is a Quick win. These cut-offs are our judgment.
What it is, and isn’t
A way to choose, not a build plan.
It ranks the processes you name by your own answers. It doesn’t pick software, estimate cost or promise time saved. Our guide covers mapping the process, choosing rules, AI or an agent, and testing before it goes live.
FAQ
Why not automate the biggest process first?
Because a big process that changes every time, or pulls information from five places, breaks when you automate it. Fix the steps and put the information in one place first. Then automate.
Is this about AI?
Partly. Most first automations are simple rules: when this happens, do that. AI helps where something has to be read or written, like sorting emails or drafting replies. Our AI guide covers where it fits first.
Why only five processes?
Because the point is to choose one to start with. If you have more, start with the five that take the most time.
Do I need a developer?
Usually not for a first automation. Built-in features and no-code tools cover most of what lands in Automate now.
Want the full picture? Read How to automate business processes, or see all the free tools.
Often used with this one
- Owner dependence map – List what you do each week and see the hours only you can do, why, and what to hand off first.
- Who holds the keys? check – Who controls your bank, domain, email, passwords and more, with the red flags to fix first and a keys sheet to keep.
Related guides and work
How to automate business processes
Pick the first process, map it, choose rules, AI or an agent, build small and prove it works.
Read the guide Guide
AI for small business: where it fits first
A short, practical guide to the first work worth handing to AI.
Read the guide Service
AI automation
Intake, follow-up, reporting and agents, built in your tools and handed to your team.
Read →Not sure where to start?
Tell us which process eats your week. If it’s a fit, we’ll come back with a scope.
Scope your project